Season Preview: Sea Gulls return key players to make deep NCAA tournament run
The Salisbury University baseball team had a record-breaking year in 2008 and hope to build off that season in '09. The Sea Gulls won a school record 41 games, thanks to a 35-game winning streak, as they went on the win a third straight Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) title and the top-seed in the South Regional of the NCAA tournament.
"What we did last year in going 41-4 and winning 35 straight games doesn't happen in baseball very much," said SU coach Doug Fleetwood. "We certainly have built a lot of momentum and have a ton of guys returning. You will see us playing with a ton of confidence this year. We think we are good, but as usual with our schedule, everyday is going to be competitive."
Salisbury returns an outstanding crop of talent as a majority of its starters from a year ago are back and new faces and freshmen get ready for the new season. The Sea Gulls look every bit inclined to make their 10h consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III tournament.
"We feel good about where we are at," said Fleetwood. "We are talented and deeper on the mound than we have ever been before. We have some good new people and I have a good feeling about these guys."
SU enters the season ranked No. 9 and No. 11 in two different preseason polls.
INFIELD
Salisbury returns a majority of its infield from last
season but will have to fill the void left by All-American and
captain Justin Armiger. Armiger, who signed his first professional
contract with the Texarkana Gunslingers of the Continental Baseball
Independent League, led SU in home runs (12) and runs batted in
(67).
The heir to Armiger at third base is between two candidates, sophomore Brian Green and Chesapeake College junior transfer Chad Wolfe. The tandem has been very impressive so far. Green saw limited action a year ago but has stepped up into a contender for the position this season. Wolfe, who will also be used as a relief pitcher, led Chesapeake to a final record of 32-18-1 in ‘08 as the Skipjacks went to the NJCAA Division I Region XX Final Four.
D3baseball.com Preseason First Team All-American Randy
Boyle will be Salisbury's everyday second baseman and will
bat second. Boyle batted .403 and led SU in doubles (16), runs
(68), and hits (73). The All-CAC first team selection is
Salisbury's top base stealing threat as he was a perfect 16-for-16
on stolen base opportunities last season. Boyle carried a .974
fielding percentage and led the Sea Gulls with 141 assists.
Keystone College senior transfer Cody Collins will
also be expected to see time at second base.
At shortstop, Salisbury returns its starter from a year ago in sophomore Will Evans. The Salisbury, Md., product started in 42 games, batted .306, and had two home runs in 2008. Evans was named MVP of the Wicomico Post 64 American Legion Baseball team this past summer.
Looking to anchor the infield for the third consecutive season is junior first baseman Mike Celenza. The All-CAC first team and All-South Region second team performer is coming off a summer in which he broke five Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League records and was named MVP of the entire league, dominated by Division I players. Celenza put together a strong season last spring as he batted .371 with 14 doubles, seven home runs and 60 RBIs. He will bat third in the starting lineup.
"There are not a lot of people around like him [Celenza]," said Fleetwood. "He has great hands and a prototype swing. Mike has proven that if you are good enough, people will see you and you will get an opportunity to play at the next level."
OUTFIELD
The SU outfield brings back many familiar faces from a year ago.
The squad features three proven starts in Jordan
Crystal, Andrew Miller and Matt
O'Keefe. All three are penciled in to start the
season patrolling the outfield.
Miller was a third team All-American, an All-South Region second
team honoree and a first-team All-CAC selection last year. The
sophomore had an outstanding rookie campaign as he led the team in
batting average (.415), on base percentage (.537), triples (two)
and walks (34). Miller was second in total bases (101), stolen
bases (11), runs scored (57), hits (66) and third on the team in
RBIs (52), home runs (six) while fourth in doubles (13). As a
result of last season's impressive statistics, the versatile
Miller was named to the 2009 D3baseball.com Preseason
All-American second team. The Schwenksville, Pa., product will bat
leadoff for the Gulls this spring.
Crystal will again patrol center field and will bat in the middle part of the lineup. He had a promising junior campaign in which he batted .335 with 64 hits and 43 RBIs. Crystal was a mainstay in the lineup a year ago when he started and played in 44 games.
O'Keefe will look to build on the experience he gained late last season when he claimed the starting right field job just before the South Regional tournament. The Gaithersburg, Md., product swung a hot stick for the Sea Gulls late in season and ended with a .293 batting average with five doubles and 18 RBIs.
Salisbury will have ample backups in the outfield and the starters will be challenged by a strong crop of talent. Hagerstown Community College junior transfer Matt Byers, sophomore Brad Baylis and freshman Bill Morton will provide depth to this talented outfield crew.
"We think we have some pretty good talent in the outfield," said Fleetwood. "They can all run, they can all steal bases and they can all go after it. Speed is a big part of our game and the defensive depth we have will give us a great situation."
PITCHERS
In what appears to be a consistent trend year-in and year-out the
SU pitching staff is coming off another record breaking season. The
maroon and gold were among the nation leaders in ERA (2.89), wins
(41) and innings pitched (377). Salisbury will lean on two proven
starters to head the rotation, an experienced bullpen and a
bottomless group of talent to spearhead its '09 charge.
Senior right-handed pitcher Eric Willey will once again anchor the SU pitching staff this spring. The 2009 D3baseball.com Preseason All-American honorable mention selection had a fantastic junior campaign where he posted an 11-1 record, 2.65 ERA and struck out 86 batters in 102 innings pitched. Last season, he was named to the D3baseball.com All-American second team, the All-South Region first team, and the All-CAC first team. He led the Sea Gulls in wins, strikeouts, saves (three), appearances (19), games started (14), innings pitched and complete games (five).
Last season's CAC Rookie of the Year Dustin Herbert returns as the No. 2 starter. The sophomore left-handed pitcher was 9-1 with a 2.71 ERA in 73 innings. He was named to the D3baseball.com All-American third team last season. Sophomore flamethrower Kyle Judson, Radford University junior transfer Kyle Starr and sophomore Alex Duda will form the back end of the rotation. SU expects Wolfe, sophomores Mark Peterson and Drew Baldwin, and freshmen Trevor Abbot and Daniel Trivits to come out of the bullpen. The closing role appears to be a race between Wolfe and Abbott.
CATCHERS
The Sea Gulls will head into this season without last
year's opening day starter Tyler Riley (.365, 11 doubles, two home
runs). Although Riley's departure to the coaching staff leaves a
void Fleetwood and the Sea Gulls feel very comfortable with the new
man behind the plate in Division I transfer Ryan
Smith. The junior comes to Salisbury after
spending the past two seasons at the University of Notre Dame and
the University of Virginia.
Fleetwood plans on using Andrew Miller behind the dish as well. The versatile Miller started the last six games of the year for SU and will be used to catch the second game of doubleheaders. Senior Michael Loomis and sophomore Devin Quaglietta will add depth to the position.
SCHEDULE
The 2009 schedule is filled with nationally ranked
opponents, CAC contests and many regional non-conference rivalry
games. Salisbury is slated to play two preseason top-five
ranked teams and four other opponents that received votes.
Salisbury, as it has done for the past two seasons, will open up on the road on February 7 against the Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan College. The two teams split the series last year, 1-1, as both teams won on their home turf. SU fell 5-4 on opening day in a 10-inning thriller in Virginia Beach, Va., and then defeated VWC 4-0 on March 27.
The following day SU will square off in a doubleheader at USA South Atlantic Conference powerhouse North Carolina Wesleyan. Salisbury will finish the month of February with eight of its nine contest scheduled at home, including a February 20th meeting with preseason No. 1 SUNY Cortland. The CAC opener pits SU at Wesley College on February 25.
Last season, the CAC adopted a new conference schedule as each team faced each other three times during the season. The teams would play each other once and then complete the series with a doubleheader. This will continue in '09 as SU will have three-game sets with both Mary Washington and York (Pa.) before the Sea Gulls make their annual spring break trip to Cocoa, Fla., in the middle of March.
Salisbury will settle down into its CAC schedule for three weeks before gearing up for the conference tournament on April 14. The CAC championship will be held on April 19 and Salisbury will then have 23 days before it hosts the South Regional on May 13-17 for the second time in the past five years at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The Division III World Series is schedule to take part in Appleton, Wis., again with a May 22 start date.
"There are not a lot of people on our schedule that you can go out there and play poorly and win," said Fleetwood. "We have some tough ones ahead of us but we have to just take it one day at a time. We don't have the automatic qualifier, so every game is in essence a conference championship for us."
